This reminds me of a quote from a while back. I can't remember the exact wording, but it was something like 'The strongest evidence for intelligent life elsewhere in the universe is the fact that nothing has made contact with us yet'.

Not very far ahead foresight, but still brilliant all the same: In Clash, when Daenerys is in the House of the Undying, there's a room she goes in which (if I remember correctly) had the corpses of attendants at a large feast. The man at the head of the table had a wolf's head and a crown. Noticed it on the second re-read and thought it was a great little add-in.

EDIT (quote): Farther on she came upon a feast of corpses. Savagely slaughtered, the feasters lay strewn across overturned chairs and hacked trestle tables, asprawl in pools of congealing blood. Some had lost limbs, even heads. Savaged limbs clutched bloody cups, wooden spoons, roast fowl, heels of bread. On a throne above them sat a dead man with thehead of a wolf. He wore an iron crownand held a leg of lamb in one hand as a king might hold a scepter, and his eyes followed Dany with mute appeal.

I thought that the first time round, but the second time I just felt ridiculously sorry for him. He had everything taken away from him, had to deal with the madness of the Targaryens, had to care for his sister, ensure that they weren't captured. People were still gunning for them, and he managed to keep them safe for years. And then there's the names behind his back, like 'beggar king'. It really weighed on him, and drove him completely over the edge.

He did deserve a nasty death for the way he treated people, but I still feel so sorry for him when I read the crown scene :(

I think she's going to travel the seven kingdoms, seeking revenge. From what we've seen so far I think she doesn't have much of Catelyn left in her, it's just pure hatred and vengeance, so maybe at some point she'll get so out of control that someone will have to kill her/sacrifice themselves to stop her. I hope there's a lot more of her to be honest, purely because I love the Brotherhood without Banners.

IIRC at the moment she's just (presumably) released Brienne to find Jaime, so there'll probably be a big pivotal scene there :)

I agree, but let's remember that a lot of the people who watch Nolan-verse (like my mum, for example) have no idea what the Robin's real names were. So if JGL had said 'Jason' or 'Dick Grayson', while a lot of the audience will be going 'ahhhhh awesome!', my mum would be sat there like 'Ummm, nice name, kid'. And that wouldn't be fair on my mum..

I'm a huge fan of MCU films, and I can honestly say I've never been so excited. The winter soldier storyline is one of my all-time favourite comic book plots, and it looks like they're doing it justice. Not to mention Seb Stan is fucking perfect for this role, and the Winter Soldier as a character is KILLING it from what I've seen so far. Very very excited.

I wanted to see the Tower of Joy, and I hate that the whole Reek/Ramsay storyline wasn't included. I would've loved to have seen the scene where Theon lets the Flayed Men into Winterfell only to be knocked to the floor as he watches the castle burn. And a scene showing Jaime slaying Aerys, or Brandon and Rickard dying in the Throne Room.

EDIT: I'll be pissed if they don't include Oberyn's fight with the Mountain

Yeah, another edit: The battle of the Whispering Wood :( Reading the book I could imagine Jaime cutting down men while shouting for Robb to fight him. Would've made for amazing viewing

If Jaime dies I will be extremely pissed. I know this is GRRM we're talking about and, after the huge reform that Jaime has gone through, it seems incredibly George-esque to kill him off, but I have huge respect for Jaime at this point, and am actually terrified for him now that Stoneheart is on the warpath, especially with the 'Jaime Lannister sends his regards' line. I know I'm being selfish, but I really hope he doesn't die :|

Actually, at the end of Return of the King, Frodo says it's been 14(?) months since Gandalf first sent them off on their journey. Dragging the storyline out over 17 years would also pose certain problems (such as appearances in some cases). 17 years is fine for a set of books, but for movies it helps that it seems more fast-paced.

Well.. yeah it does because the UK is 5-8 hours ahead of the US. So we go to sleep, you guys get your cats out, and we wake up with no idea what happened. Us in the UK are the metaphorical 'first to fall asleep at a party' people.

There are five books :) A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. They're really amazing, and I'd definitely recommend them for anyone waiting for the new season of the show. I'd particularly recommend reading A Storm of Swords before season 3 airs.